Parks board backs Austin Energy transmission easement at Festival Beach, conditions it on on-site restoration and community engagement

The Austin Parks and Recreation Board unanimously recommended March 23 that City Council approve a permanent transmission-line easement through Edward Rendon Senior Metro Park at Festival Beach, but only after securing commitments that mitigation funds be used to restore and protect the park and that Parks and Austin Energy actively engage the community groups that steward the site.

The vote followed more than an hour of public comment from Festival Beach volunteers and neighbors who said the park has already sustained repeated disruptions — including a recent wastewater pipeline relocation that uprooted trees and damaged volunteer operations. "We are a largely volunteer led community based organization that's being impacted directly by these utility relocations," Ali Tharp of the Festival Beach Food Forest told the board. "We would like to request immediate support to do all reasonable planning to minimize this impact to the food forest."

Community organizations pressed the board to guarantee that…